Showing posts with label Mohamed bin Salman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mohamed bin Salman. Show all posts

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Guard, gunman die in attack at US consulate in Jeddah

Report at Yahoo News
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Published Thursday 29 June 2023, 12:31 am BST - here is a full copy:

Guard, gunman die in attack at US consulate in Jeddah: police

No Americans were harmed in the shooting outside the consulate in Jeddah, which was put under lockdown, the State Department said (MANDEL NGAN)


A security guard and a gunman were killed in an exchange of gunfire in front of the US consulate in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Wednesday, officials said.


No Americans were harmed in the shooting outside the consulate, which was put under lockdown, the State Department said.


"At 6:45 pm (1545 GMT), a man stopped in a car in front of the consulate building and got out with a weapon in his hand," the official Saudi Press Agency quoted a police spokesman as saying.


"Security forces reacted... resulting in an exchange of fire that killed the assailant," it said.


A Nepalese security officer was wounded and later died, it said.


"We offer our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased local guards member," the State Department said in a statement in Washington.


The State Department said that Saudi forces killed the assailant and that the United States was in touch with the kingdom as it starts an investigation.


"The consulate was appropriately locked down and no Americans were harmed in the attack," it said.


The attack occurred as Saudi Arabia welcomed some 1.8 million Muslim faithful for the annual hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca, some 70 kilometres (44 miles) from Jeddah.


The US consulate in the coastal city of Jeddah on the Red Sea has been the target of previous attacks, one on July 4, 2016, American Independence Day, when a suicide bomber blew himself up.


In December 2004, another attack left five people dead.


Jeddah has recently been a hub of US diplomatic activity as the United States and Saudi Arabia together try to mediate between warring generals in Sudan.


Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Jeddah earlier in June when he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.


ht-saa-sct/yad


View original:  https://uk.news.yahoo.com/guard-gunman-die-attack-us-233125615.html


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Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Sudan: Omar al-Bashir had cash worth $113m: $90m from Saudi royal family - $25m sent to him by Prince Mohammed bin Salman to use outside state budget

Article from the Financial Times
By TOM WILSON in Nairobi 
Dated Friday 23 August 2019
Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir faces court reckoning 
Photo:  Dictator who loomed over country for a generation faces corruption charges Omar al-Bashir sits inside a cage as corruption charges are read out © Reuters 

Thirty years after seizing power in a military coup and four months after widespread protests forced him from office, Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, once one of the most notorious leaders on the African continent, this week appeared in court. 

He appeared not at the International Criminal Court that charged him with genocide in 2010 for trying to wipe out non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, but in the east African country he has dominated for the past three decades. 

Dressed in immaculate white robes, Mr Bashir sat in a black metal cage as prosecutors and investigators described the corruption charges against him. 

The former president, who is expected to plead not guilty, spoke only to confirm his name, his age and his residence ” Khartoum’s Kober prison. 

For the millions of Sudanese citizens that struggled under his dictatorial regime and the hundreds of thousands that protested since December for his removal, it was a huge moment. “Bashir was the symbol of the regime since 1989,” said Wasil Ali, a Sudanese commentator and the former deputy editor of the Sudan Tribune, an online newspaper.  “People seeing him in court breaks a longstanding condition, it allows them to feel that Bashir is gone.” 

Despite an international arrest warrant, US sanctions and countless civil conflicts, Mr Bashir had clung to power, looming over the country for a generation. Ever present, barely a day went by without him giving a statement or making an appearance on state television. 

But as symbolic as the trial is, many also fear that the prosecution will not be sufficient to deliver justice. “It is a relief to see Bashir behind bars but we think this is not enough,” said Amjed Farid, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, one of the groups that spearheaded the demonstrations that led to his ousting. “The current case against him is about money laundering and dealing in foreign currency [but] we don’t think this is the only crime that Bashir committed.”  

Though more charges could follow, Mr Bashir is currently accused of illicit possession of foreign currency and accepting gifts in an unofficial manner after a raid of his home in April, in which military officers said they found cash in at least three currencies worth $113m. 

At this week’s hearing, a police officer testified that Mr Bashir had admitted that some of the money was part of $90m he had received from members of the Saudi royal family, including the current de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

“The accused told us that the money was part of a sum of $25m sent to him by Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be used outside of the state budget,” police Brigadier General Ahmed Ali told the court. 

The revelation was further evidence of prolonged efforts by Saudi Arabia to maintain influence in Sudan. In 2015 Mr Bashir agreed to send thousands of troops to support the Saudi-led war in Yemen and in April, Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates were quick to back Sudan’s new military leaders. 

That Mr Bashir had received personal payments from another leader would have been shocking to many Sudanese, said Mr Ali, but pales in comparison to the violence and war crimes of which he also stands accused. “To see him on corruption [charges], I think that fuels a suspicion that the government is not serious about really prosecuting for the crimes that really matters,” he said. 

Over 30 years Mr Bashir’s secret police terrorised opponents, while his army officers led murderous military campaigns in the now independent South Sudan and in Darfur, South Kordofan and other regions of the country. 

Part of the problem is that under a transitional agreement signed last week, civilian administrators will share power for the next three years with military officers, all of whom served Mr Bashir loyally until his ousting and some of whom were directly involved in some of the former regime’s worst atrocities. 

Still, the SPA’s Mr Farid said there was little appetite in Sudan to hand Mr Bashir over to the International Criminal Court, which issued warrants for his arrest in 2009 and 2010 on charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The next hearing in Sudan is due in September.

“It is right for the Sudanese people to see Bashir facing justice in Sudan but this is conditioned on sufficient legal reform to guarantee that justice has been served and that all victims can present their cases against him,” Mr Farid said. “He needs to answer to his crimes and we don’t think there is any place for him to hide.”